Just Giving Wise Buddha Props- Pirate Radio Review

No, I’m not talking about the religious figure. Wise Buddha was the jingle producer for the new comedy Pirate Radio, as well as the last name in the credits. The movie was so absolutely good, I just had to give Wise Buddha some credit because hardly anyone stays until the end of the credits. If you are one of those people, however, you might get to see a little something extra in this case… But lets get to the review. As far as I’m concerned, there are two aspect of this movie that made it amazing: great comedic performances and a soundtrack that could wake the dead. On the acting side, Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Big Lebowski, Along Came Polly) and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) both give comedic performances fans have come to expect from them. There were also some hilarious characters played by relative unknowns. For example Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords) is quite funny as Angus, and Tom Brooke’s role as Thick Kevin was the highlight of the film for me. This movie actually pleasantly surprised me. For some reason, I expected the whole movie to be based around Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s character, the Count, but it was more about the entire boat. The movie could have definitely banked on the fact that they had an Oscar winner in their midst, but they didn’t. One thing that did kind of bug me was this silly subplot about the main character finding his dad. That part of the story wasn’t very good. It just didn’t get the attention a story like that should get. It was very lazily glanced over and “resolved.” Overall, though, this movie was very funny thanks to the comedic acting of its stars.

The soundtrack is also a gem. I mean, the royalties on this album alone must have set the production company back a pretty penny. There are hits from The Beach Boys, The Who, The Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix, just to name a few. The people who put together the soundtrack might be upset because the songs in the movie are songs that are so great, people already have them in their music libraries. Maybe I am just bias because I used to absolutely adore classic rock, but the songs just fit so well into the movie. Even the Count muttering “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom” as he jumps off the boat is just gold. Solid gold.

Here is the long and short of it: go see this movie. It’ll make you feel good. If you want to see more information about the movie or the actual pirate radios this movie was based on, try http://pirateradiomovie.com

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